Nimbus dues: BCCI warns of legal action against three banks
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has threatened to take three public sector banks — Punjab National Bank, Union Bank of India and Indian Bank — to court after they refused to honour guarantees to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore sanctioned to Nimbus Communications.
BCCI had invoked the guarantees after Nimbus failed to settle dues of Rs 305 crore to the board.
Nimbus had signed a four-year deal with BCCI valued at Rs 2,000 crore on October 15, 2009 to telecast all domestic and international matches played by India at home between April 1, 2010 and March 31, 2014. BCCI terminated the contract last Monday, citing regular defaults by Nimbus and its long-pending dues.
BCCI is understood to be ready to file suits in the next few days against the three banks. It will also file recovery claims from a clutch of 40 advertisers who owe Rs 150 crore to Nimbus. “They (banks) have in writing refused to invoke the bank guarantee of Rs 2,000 crore and are officially refusing to inform us about the collateral they accepted,” P R Raman, the board’s counsel, told The Indian Express.
According to the Nimbus draft red herring prospectus filed in September last, the New Delhi-headquartered Punjab National
Bank sanctioned financial bank guarantee of Rs 700 crore on January 14, 2010, in favour of BCCI with respect to the media rights agreement of October 2009 after charging a 1.5 per cent commission and against telecast rights as collateral.
Indian Bank, on the other hand,
